Shot
by Darlin24
Summary: While investigating a petty officer's death, Abby is shot in the shoulder. As their investigation continues, all the evidence points to Ziva. How do Gibbs and the team react? Especially when a former friend returns unexpectedley?
1. Distress

**A/N: In order to understand some things that happen in this chapter (and story in general I guess), here are three things you need to know:**

**1) It's set sometime in late season 3. The stalker incident with Abby has already happened but Gibbs hasn't been blown up by the bomb or 'retired' yet. **

**2) Because it's only season 3, Jenny is not dead yet. Vance does not exist (I'd like to jam that freaking toothpick in his eye he bugs me so much!). Ziva is still a Mossad officer, not an NCIS agent or an American citizen. **

**3) I love foreshadowing like Abby loves Caf-Pow!. Look for it everywhere. If something seems even a tiny bit hinky, it probably is a splash of foreshadowing and you have to figure out the clue(:**

**Other than that, read, enjoy(hopefully?) and review! :D**

"There's nothing here," Tony announced, sifting through a pile of useless credit card bills and bank statements. "Have you found anything?" Ziva exited the bedroom and leaned against the wall next to the desk that Tony was searching through. "No, I have not found out anything about this Petty Officer Noel except that he was a neat freak. Did I get that right?" Tony nodded and snapped off his gloves. "Anything that could potentially be useful here-bank records, credit card bills- are things that McGee already pulled up."

The case they were currently working on dealt with a murdered marine who was found shot in the both shoulders and hips and bled to death because of it. There had been no shell casings or rounds at the crime scene, even though it was definitely a through-and-through shot. According to Ducky, the body hadn't been moved because of the blood pools and splatters on the walls of the alley in which the marine was found. Very little other evidence was found; there were only a few partial fingerprints of the evidence, and Abby had yet to get a match.

Tony's cell phone chimed, signaling a text message. He flipped open his phone and his eyebrows scrunched up in confusion.

"What is it?" Ziva demanded, leaning in to see the tiny screen.

"A text message," Tony replied.

"Well yes I can _see _that Tony. I meant why are your eyebrows… burrowing?"

"It's furrowing, Ziva. And I'm confused because it's from _Gibbs_." he explained, clicking to open the message. He scanned it.

"Gibbs knows how to send a text message?" Ziva laughed, "Since wh-"

"We have to go. Now," Tony pushed back from the desk vehemently, rattling the various items strewn across the top of it. He began jamming their things into both backpacks, not bothering to distinguish one person's things from the others. His focus was on leaving the apartment as quickly as possible.

"Tony! What is going on?" Ziva requested forcefully. She caught her backpack and slung it over her shoulder when Tony tossed it at her.

"Gibbs. The text he sent me was a distress code,"

Abby and McGee stared at the quickly moving screen, as it flashed fingerprint after fingerprint on the screen, scanning for a match in AFIS. They'd been sitting for close to three hours, scanning the partial fingerprints from the evidence through any and every database in existence.

"This is soooo boring…" Abby moaned, dropping her head into her hands.

"Can't we just let AFIS run the prints and have a match ready for us when we come back in tomorrow? It's 9:30 Abby…" McGee asked, the whining tone dripping subtly from his words.

"No, because Gibbs will know we left without getting a match and in his mind that's like quitting. And he'll get mad. Well madder than he normally is, you know like all the time but except for-"

"Abby." McGee speaking her name seemed to bring her down from whatever place she was at when she rambled like that.

"Right,"

"Besides, he'll only get mad at me, and right now, I honestly couldn't care if he got mad at me," McGee mused, stealing Abby's Caf-Pow and taking a sip.

"Why wouldn't he get mad at me?" Abby wondered, grabbing back her caffeine-loaded drink and slapping McGee on the arm.

"Because you're the favorite," he replied simply.

Abby grinned, a slight smirk mixed with a knowing and pleased smile. "True," McGee scowled in response and resumed the mundane job of staring at the computer monitor. His phone buzzed, distracting him from the dull fingerprint scanning. He opened it with his thumb and pursed his lips at the screen.

"What?" Abby asked, just as her phone signaled a text message. She clicked to open it. "It's from Gibbs," she announced, then opened the message.

"Yeah, mine too," McGee's eyebrows crinkled together in confusion.

"I didn't even know he could send a… McGee? What does this mean?" she held out her phone for him to see the message displayed on the screen. His eyes widened to the size of golf balls as he looked from Abby's phone to his.

"It's a distress code," he murmured, shocked.

"What?" she shrieked, "So Gibbs is like… In distress somewhere?"

"Yes. That's exactly what it means. Come on, let's go. Gibbs left to go home less than an hour ago." he pulled her out of her chair and they sprinted out of the lab.

"Mr. Palmer, if you'll put our guest away for the night," Ducky said, grabbing the autopsy report, his bag, coat, and hat.

"Right away Doctor Mallard," Palmer replied.

"You're free to go after that," Ducky continued, "I'm going upstairs to show Jethro the autopsy report and then I'm leaving as well,"

"Thank you Doctor," Palmer responded as Ducky exited autopsy and stepped into the elevator.

The elevator doors opened and he exited the elevator. Upon reaching the bullpen, he saw McGee frantically shoving gear into his backpack and strapping on his gun. Abby stood next to him, looking fearful, panicked, and nervous.

"Ducky!" she yelped, rushing over and enveloping him in a hug.

"Abigail, what's going on?" he inquired, leaning back to look her in the eyes.

"It's Gibbs, Ducky, he sent McGee and I text messages. The messages were distress codes," she explained hastily. McGee dragged Abby to the elevator, who in turn, heaved Ducky along as well.

"You two are staying here. I'm going to try and contact Tony and Ziva. We'll rendezvous at-"

"No." Abby said, with such a force that McGee nodded meekly, silently praying that Gibbs wouldn't kill him for bringing the two of them into it. Whatever _it_ was exactly…

McGee started the car a couple minutes later, and the three rode in silence for the duration of their travel. McGee was driving somewhere between Ziva and Gibbs, except McGee didn't jerk the car around, he handled it smoothly and efficiently. Upon reaching Gibbs' house, they quickly noticed Gibbs' car, and the car that Tony and Ziva had taken to Petty Officer Noel's apartment were parked outside.

The front door stood open, allowing the crisp, cold winter air to drift into the darkened foyer. The three stepped over the threshold and stood huddled just inside the door. They were mere shadows in the darkness that enveloped them. All the lights were turned off on the first floor (that they could tell) and an almost opaque blackness surrounded them.

Tony trotted down the stairs, holstering his gun and shouting, "Clear!" Ziva stepped out from the kitchen, and replied with a 'clear!' of her own. She was just replacing her gun in its hip-holster when she spotted the three shady bodies standing just inside the doorway.

She had the safety off, and hammer pulled back within a second. Her finger rested slightly on the trigger. Tony copied her, freezing in his position on the stairs.

"For God's sake Ziva, put that weapon down," Ducky's cool voice rang throughout the foyer. Ziva visibly relaxed and walked over to flip on the lights in the foyer and living room.

"Ducky. Abby. McGee. What are you three doing here?" Tony wondered, finishing his descent of the staircase.

"Well, Abby and I got text messages that contained a distress code from Gibbs almost half an hour ago…" McGee explained slowly, trying to comprehend what was happening.

"And we drove like Gibbs. Or Ziva. It was hard to tell." Abby interjected, smiling happily since she knew that Ziva and Tony were okay.

"Well Gibbs isn't here," Tony replied, going over to shut the front door.

"Did anyone bother to check in the basement?" Ducky wondered, heading towards the stairs that led down.

"Ducky wait!" Ziva commanded. "Let Tony and I clear it." Ducky sighed and nodded.

Two minutes later, Ziva and Tony emerged from the basement looking wary and confused. The faces of those that had been left upstairs were plastered with grim expressions. Gibbs followed behind the two agents after a few seconds. He appeared perfectly fine.

"Gibbs!" Abby squealed and tottered over to him in her platform boots. She did her best to crush him in a hug, holding onto him with a ferocious tightness. Gibbs wrapped his arms around her, reassuring her that he was fine, nothing was wrong, and everything would be okay.

Within twenty minutes, the six were sitting in the living room, sipping various hot drinks. Tony, Ziva, Gibbs, and McGee drank coffee, while Abby and Ducky drank hot cocoa. It was quiet for a few minutes, the shock and feelings of panic wearing slowly wearing off as they sipped their beverages.

"Now. Someone explain why you thought I was in trouble," Gibbs spoke up first.

"We all received text messages that had a distress code in them." McGee replied, "And we automatically jumped to the worst conclusion,"

"Actually, I did not receive a text." Ziva added.

"Nor did I." Ducky said, "I merely tagged along with Abigail and Timothy."

"So, Tony, McGee, and Abby all got text messages that were supposedly from me, but Ziva and Ducky didn't," Gibbs concluded, standing up and walking into the kitchen. The rest of his team followed behind, nodding.

"What?" Gibbs demanded, not understanding what had just happened.

"Someone else could have done it," Abby voiced, " I mean, they'd have to be pretty experienced but they could hack through the cellular service and make it look like it was sent from your phone when it really wasn't. Or, if they were less experienced, the person behind this could have just stolen your phone, sent the text messages and put it back,"

Gibbs took his phone out and tossed it to McGee, who flipped it open and began searching for an indication that someone other that Gibbs had touched or used the phone recently.

"I don't see anything… but someone could have deleted them and then returned it. That is of course, if someone even got a hold of your phone in the first place boss," McGee rambled, "I'd have to take it apart and-"

"Do it, McGee." Gibbs ordered. The odds that someone had taken his phone, used it, then snuck it back without Gibbs noticing were as good as Kate walking into work tomorrow. Nonexistent, but it better to check than not do anything.

"So we're working on the how… the next question is _who_ sent it?" Tony mused.

"I've got a better question for you DiNozzo. How did he or she know our distress code?" Gibbs inquired, refilling his coffee. Silence fell, but was broken a few seconds later when the doorbell rang.

"Ooh! Gibbs, can I answer the door?" Abby pleaded. Gibbs gave a quick half-smile and nodded.

"Why does she want to answer the door?" Ziva murmured to Tony.

"Because," he breathed back, "who would Gibbs at ten thirty on a Monday night?"

"Fair point." she raised her voice from a whisper to a conversational loudness, "After we find out who sent it and how he or she knew our distress code, then we have t-"

Ziva was cut short by a resounding gun shot and scream. Everyone sprinted into the foyer, and the agents pulled their guns. Abby lay on the ground, clutching her left shoulder which was steadily seeping blood. Tears poured down her face, and she choked on her sobs.

Gibbs' gun clattered to the floor as he dropped to the ground. He gently lifted Abby and dragged her into his lap. McGee and Tony continued out of the open door and canvassed the street for any signs of the shooter. Ziva whipped out her phone and dialed 911 then began giving the operator all the information necessary. Ducky crouched down and inspected the damage.

"You're okay, Abs. you're okay. I've got you," Gibbs consoled, eyes darting around the foyer looking for the bullet. He didn't see it within his view.

"Gibbs…" she whimpered and buried her face in his shirt.

"It's a very similar wound to the one Gerald sustained when we were being held hostage by Ari." Ducky established. "This is a through and through shot however, unlike Gerald's… our first concern is stopping or at the very least, slowing the blood loss."

"Gibbs, the ambulance will be here in less than five minutes," Ziva relayed what the operator had told her.

"No obvious signs of the shooter, boss," Tony called as he ascended the porch steps.

"Here-Jethro- put pressure here," Ducky instructed. Gibbs obliged and Abby winced.

"I'm sorry Abs," Gibbs murmured, kissing her forehead. "I know, it hurts."

"Did he just-" Tony began

"Yeah," McGee finished, both agents in shock that their boss had just apologized.

"Find the bullet. Gather any and all evidence then bag and tag everything. I want the video footage from the street cameras. Find out if the neighbors heard or saw anything. Do it now." Gibbs barked as Ducky tended as best he could to Abby.

"Open your eyes," Gibbs gently shook Abby awake from the sleep she was slowly drifting into.

She signed, _I'm trying. It hurts. A lot._ since she didn't trust her voice.

Gibbs frowned. "Ducky can't we give her painkillers or something?"

"I'm afraid not. I don't have any morphine with me and over-the-counter medicine won't metabolize quickly enough. The EMTs will arrive before the pills would even begin to work,"

"Gibbs! Found the bullet!" Ziva called. She stepped in front of Gibbs and held up the vaguely familiar smashed metal with her gloved hands.

"Bag and Tag," was Gibbs response. He quickly averted his attention back to Abby, and murmured consoling words to her. Suddenly, her eyes widened and she moved her right fingers at lightning speed.

"Slower," Gibbs requested, watching the movements carefully.

She repeated the sequence at a much slower pace.

"3-4-J-K-6-D? What does that mean?" Gibbs wondered. Abby only nodded then passed out as the whirring sounds of the ambulance drew nearer.

**A/N: Sorry for the cliffhanger. Review and/or add me to your story/author alerts and I'll update tomorrow (Sunday, 9-12-10)**


	2. Evidence or lack therof

**A/N: To all those who lost lives in 9/11, rest in peace. Have fun chillin' with Jesus (: My prayers and thoughts are with all of the loved ones that they left behind. **

**.+-.+-.+-**

**On with the story! Allow me to clarify some things: **

**The team does not know that Ari was Ziva's half-brother, only Gibbs knows. **

**And what Abby signs is NOT the distress code. And it's not something between her and Gibbs either, because he's just as confused as everyone else. I'll give you a hint: what can you think of that always has a six letter/number combination? **

**I am surprised that none of you picked up on the foreshadowing. Or maybe you did. You just never said it…? I guess it wasn't that obvious (: keep looking! If you can find it, it tells you A LOT (:**

Abby.

Abby.

Abby. Abby. Abby.

Gibbs paced back and forth in the waiting room, a million thoughts coursing through his mind. Some were intricately detailed, while others were mere snippets of nothing and everything. But of all these things, one kept coming back: Abby. _How could this have happened to her? Why? How come I wasn't able to protect her? Or at the very least, put a round through the heart of the person who did this? _

He glanced at the clock for the third time in two minutes. A surprisingly small amount of people were in the emergency waiting room with him. There was an elderly, grandmotherly looking lady, a pregnant woman who was only just beginning to show that was sitting with her son, a scraggly man around 20 years old, and a small family comprised of two redheaded parents, and one redhead child. All looked worried. But none as worried as Gibbs.

Because it wasn't like someone he was close to and loved was having emergency appendix surgery or an asthma attack, it was _Abby_ and she'd been shot. Right on Gibbs' doorstep. He was maybe thirty feet away. He didn't stop it. He couldn't. That was what killed him.

His cell phone rang and he almost jumped. The nurse on duty wagged a finger at him, signaling that no cell phones were allowed. Gibbs, thoroughly irritated at this point, yanked out his badge and shoved it in the woman's face before flipping open his phone.

"Yeah, Gibbs,"

"Hey boss, we're done bagging and tagging here. Which wasn't much. We took pictures, the usual and questioned all the neighbors. None of them saw a thing, but they weren't too happy about being woken from their sleep... McGee tried to access the traffic cams but they're down for maintenance." Tony relayed all the information they'd gathered.

"So you've got nothing," Gibbs seethed. Tony had about five seconds to save himself…

"Not exactly…" he replied after a terse pause.

"DiNozzo…" the tone was a threat in itself.

"We…" he whispered a few unintelligible words to Ziva and McGee, "It'd be better to tell you in person. We can come down to the hospital if you want…?"

Gibbs sighed, "DiNozzo let me talk to Ziva." Tony shrugged and passed the phone.

"David, where is your gun?" was the first thing out of Gibbs' mouth.

"Wh-what?" Ziva stammered. Tony and McGee's eyes darted back and forth between the phone and each other in question.

"Your SIG. Where is it?" he repeated.

"I-uh-do not know… actually. I.. Sorry Gibbs. I do not know," she muttered, staring at the floor ashamed, but also wondering how on Earth Gibbs knew that she couldn't find it.

"What do you _mean_ you don't know where your gun is?" Gibbs demanded harshly, his voice raising a few octaves with each word.

"I do not know the location," Ziva replied, crinkling her eyebrows. Had she messed up her English again? Apparently that was the wrong thing to say. Gibbs was ready to take his _own _SIG and shoot Ziva with it.

"Family for Abigail Sciuto?" a tall, handsome man asked, entering the room. Gibbs snapped his phone shut.

"Boss?" Tony said into his phone as Ziva handed it back. In return, he heard a dial tone, signaling that the line had gone dead. "I really hate it when he does that," he muttered.

Gibbs strode over to the doctor, who was deeply tan and wore purple scrubs. The doctor raised an eyebrow, thinking about the extreme contrast between Gibbs and Abby but shrugged and led the ex-marine through double doors and towards the intensive care unit.

"I'm Dr. Park and will be attending to Ms. Sciuto-" the doctor began but Gibbs cut him off.

"It's Abby,"

"What? Um. Okay. Well _Abby_ lost quite a bit of blood, but we gave her a transfusion and her blood pressure is relatively normal now. The wound could have been fatal due to loss of blood, had you not been so quick in calling for help and efficient in applying pressure to the wound. She's still asleep from the medication and anesthesia from surgery, but should be awake when visiting hours start at nine o' clock tomorrow morning," he rattled off, glancing up from his clipboard every so often.

Normally this was the part were the family member began getting teary-eyed and begged to see their beloved even though it was after visiting hours. The man before him remained stoic and unmoving. The only indication that he was upset in the slightest was the clenched jaw.

"You _are_ her father, aren't you?" Dr. Park asked, furrowing his eyebrows as they stopped outside Abby's room. The curtains were drawn across the glass pane so they couldn't see inside.

"And if I'm not?" Gibbs inquired, his voice perfectly normal, not suggesting in any way that he was upset about this whole debacle. Which he was, immensely.

"Then I'm going to have to ask you to leave, and come back tomorrow morning, during visiting hours."

"Well in that case, I _am_ her father." Gibbs replied coolly and without waiting for a response, stepped into Abby's room.

"Zee-vah! You're driving. We're going to Bethesda." Tony dangled the keys to the Charger in front of the assassin's face. She grabbed them and with an appreciative smirk, started for the car. Tony slid into the front seat next to her and McGee and Ducky took the back.

They arrived at the hospital in half the time it should have taken. Of course, the two agents and medical examiner were a little unsteady on their feet for a few seconds… the four entered the hospital and strode up to the nurse's station. Only two nurses were on duty, one a pretty blonde in pink scrubs, and the other a ridiculously skinny brunette in sea foam green scrubs.

"Hi," Tony leaned onto the counter in front of the attractive women. "My name is special agent Anthony DiNozzo, NCIS," he drawled, showing his badge. "I need to know where Abigail Sciuto is, it's urgent," he smiled a womanizing smile. Ziva rolled her eyes as the two women giggled slightly and tapped away on their computers.

"She's in the ICU one floor up. Her father is already there, and it's after visiting hours so I doubt that you'll be allowed to see her." the blonde recited, smiling apologetically at the agents before her.

"Oh, I think we will be able to see her," Ziva scowled and stalked towards the elevators, McGee and Ducky in tow. Tony exchanged numbers with the two women (one of whom was French, judging by her last name) and dashed to catch up with his team. He slid his hand between the doors just in time.

"Really Tony? Really?" Ziva demanded once they were ascending.

"Really, Ziva. Really," Tony replied smartly. "Hey," he sobered up all of a sudden. "Where do you think Gibbs is? I mean they said that Abby's _father_ was with her. But that doesn't even make sense…"

"Anthony, I believe I know exactly where Gibbs is and why the medical personnel here are under the impression that Abby's father is with her." Ducky smiled slightly.

"Whoa," McGee interjected, "Ducky, you don't think that Gibbs said he was Abby's father… do you?"

"Yes, Timothy, that is exactly what I think,"

The elevator pinged and they stepped out, only to come face to face with Gibbs. He raised an eyebrow and motioned for them to go back into the elevator. They complied, but questioning was plastered all over their faces, and they made no attempt at hiding it.

The ride back to Gibbs' house was uncomfortably silent after Gibbs had informed everyone that Abby was asleep, but they could go see and talk to her in the morning. He pulled the car up in front of his house and as soon as the engine shut off, Tony, McGee and Ziva started rattling off everything they'd found.

Gibbs moved to turn the doorknob but the door flung open without his assistance. Out of instinct, Ziva hand flew to her right hip for her gun, which wasn't there. She was the only one who appeared to be shocked or uneasy about why the door magically opened.

Jenny Sheppard stood before them, looking angry, upset, distraught, and haughty all at the same time. She took four steps forward and hit Gibbs across the chest. He raised his eyebrows amusedly and smirked. "I think I might just have to fire you," she threatened and hit him again. And again, he didn't flinch. Instead, he took her hands and pulled her into a hug.

"I know. I know. I didn't stop it." He murmured.

Ziva, Tony, and McGee stood frozen on the steps, mouths agape. Ducky didn't seem bothered at all by this show of affection.

"I'm mad at you," she stated the obvious. Tears pricked the back of her eyes but refused to let them fall. DiNozzo would never let her live it down if she cried, especially when being held by Gibbs.

"I know. By the way, Ziva, I forgot to tell you, if you can't find your SIG, don't even bother coming in to work tomorrow." Gibbs let go of Jenny and ushered everyone inside. He noticed that all of the coffee mugs had been cleared away and made a mental note to thank his team later. That is, if they had any solid evidence and could solve the case, of course.

For the better part of the next hour, they took turns explaining the night's events and the evidence they'd collected. At 2:30 AM, they finally departed.

**0830 hours**

"Good morning Abs," Gibbs smiled as the forensic specialist's eyelids fluttered open.

"Gibbs," she managed.

"How are you feeling?"

"Fine I guess. My shoulder doesn't hurt."

"Good," he grinned and bent down to kiss her forehead.

"Are you leaving?" the panic in her voice was almost tangible.

"Not if you don't want me to,"

"Okay. I don't want you to."

"Then I'm staying," Abby smiled back at him and she settled back into her pillow from the tense position she'd been in when she thought he'd leave.

"So, have you killed the guy who did this yet?" Abby joked.

"No. Not yet. You're getting a little ahead…"

"So you ARE going to kill him?"

"I think it's a very real possibility…" he mused. "But in order to find him, I need you to tell me anything you can."

"That's just it Gibbs. I can't remember anything. I know it was a man though, because I remember noticing a cut on his cheek where he must've cut himself shaving. That's pretty much it. I don't think I can even tell you his hair color. I'm pretty sure he was white though…" she trailed off, upset that she had to disappoint Gibbs.

"That is perfectly okay, Abby," Gibbs laced his fingers with hers. "I'm just so glad that you're okay."

**A/N: Sorry, that was kind of a long chapter, and didn't really do anything (for me anyway…). I'm also apologizing for not updating yesterday like I said, but I had the biggest load of homework EVER… I am also sorry for breaking rule 6 so much in the past couple sentences… which is a bit ironic and slightly oxymoronic. Oh well. Please review/add to your favorites/alerts (: I will probably update around the end of the week (i.e. Saturday or Friday)**


	3. A pretty brunette

**A/N: As you've probably noticed (or hopefully anyway…) I did not update this weekend. I'd break rule 6 but that would make it worse? Maybe it would, maybe it wouldn't. I'm sorry. :/ Okay. Feel free to virtually Gibbs-slap me as much as you want. I have somewhat of an excuse (my high school football team lost to our biggest rival on Friday, and I went dress shopping for homecoming [which was 5 of the best hours of my life, and also five of the most tortuous] on Saturday. Then I had to rush to finish all the homework I'd slacked off on, on Sunday…. I don't know what I was doing the past two days. So here's the chapter now. And still, look for foreshadowing, or clues. If you really want to know what happens in this chapter before reading it… go back to chapter one and read the simile Gibbs uses when he's talking about how unlikely it is that someone took his phone… THAT was the foreshadowing ;) **

"Okay Abs, you're allowed to leave now," Gibbs smiled as he entered her room. She'd been transferred out of the ICU four days ago and had been making a surprisingly fast recovery. Gibbs had pulled some strings (and whipped out his badge a few times) to get Abby to be able to leave with him.

She grinned. He'd brought her normal clothes to change into. Well, normal for Abby. Her shoulder was still heavily bandaged, and she couldn't really use her left arm much at all. The drive to Gibbs' house was filled mainly with Abby's non-stop, constant stream of chatter and rambling.

"Wait. I thought you were taking me home?" she wondered, staring at the front door of Gibb's house with detest.

"Nope. You're staying with me," at the look on Abby's face (it was a mix of happiness and wariness) Gibbs clarified, "For protection,"

"Oh. Well okay I guess. I still need my things…"

"Already got them." Gibbs smiled and helped her out of the car.

Abby spent the rest of the weekend watching Gibbs build his boat in the basement. They talked for hours, with her dominating the conversation mostly. The two work-free days passed quickly and soon it was Monday. Abby and Gibbs entered the bullpen (both clutching their preferred form of caffeine) and noticed that Ziva, McGee and Tony were sitting at their desks quietly, (and for once) working on their paper work.

"I'm going down to my lab," Abby announced.

"You can't work," Gibbs reminded.

"But that's the only place where it's acceptable to play Brain Matter as loud as I want." She grinned and headed for the elevator again. Gibbs reluctantly allowed her to leave.

"What do you got?" he asked his team.

"Not much. There's no evidence other than the bullet really. No finger, tire, or foot prints." Tony clicked up the pictures to the plasma.

"What about the doorbell?" Ziva suddenly exclaimed. "Could we not get a fingerprint from the doorbell?"

"Well, if this guy is so careful as to not leave any forensic evidence whatsoever then I highly doubt that he'd have left a print on the doorbell. And even if he did, the odds of actually pulling one and identifying it with enough points for court are extremely small," McGee explained, both to Ziva and Gibbs. "Besides, it's been a week. There's virtually no evidence other than the bullet,"

"What about all that stuff you were talking and speculating about last week?" Gibbs fumed.

"That's just it boss, they were theories, but all have been shot down…" Gibbs glared at his senior field agent, "Uh, no pun intended boss, sorry that was uh, a poor, very poor choice of words… I'm going to sit down now,"

The four sat in an uncomfortable silence that after an hour or two, shifted into a slightly comfortable one. The three agents and Mossad officer had no choice but to catch up on their paper work that had been put off due to "high priority cases that greatly surpass _paperwork_" as Tony so eloquently put it.

Tony was supposedly finalizing a report for the director but in reality, was playing Tetris. McGee, as always, was dutifully preforming the task his boss had assigned him. Ziva grudgingly complied with the orders set upon her but was IM'ing and e-mailing friends from Mossad as well.

Yes, Gibbs knew that his team (for the most part) was slacking majorly, but he honestly didn't care. He continued to stare at the picture of the bullet that had penetrated Abby's shoulder. Suddenly he lifted his head.

"David," he said. The Israeli cocked her head to the side as if to say 'Yes?'

"Where is you SIG?"

"In my desk drawer. Why?" Ziva's senses went on precautionary alert. Did Gibbs know that the gun she'd brought with her was really her extra since she couldn't locate her primary one?

"Just wondering," he muttered and went back to scrutinizing the picture.

The elevator _dinged_ as it opened but none of the team so much as blinked. The soft tapping of shoes was heard and someone stopped in bullpen. Tony noted a pair of toned female legs and quickly plastered on one of his womanizing smiles.

"Hi, how can I…" he trailed off, mouth hanging agape.

Upon hearing Tony's lack of words, Ziva glanced up and locked eyes with a pretty brunette.

"Hello. My name is Officer Ziva David. Is there anything I can do for you?" Ziva asked, glancing at Tony for a fraction of a second. His mouth was still hanging open unattractively.

The woman shook her head softly, her eyebrows crossed as if trying to decipher an extremely difficult problem or riddle of some sort. The kind where it seems impossible to figure out and then someone tells you the answer and you want to kick yourself because it was so obvious and easy.

McGee, curiosity overwhelming him, finally looked up at the mysterious visitor. His mouth went slack as well. So now, Tony and McGee looked like gaping idiots.

"Boss…" McGee managed a quiet mutter. Gibbs heard him, but didn't look up.

"So…" Ziva began again, as both she and the visitor glanced at the two agents and their wide open mouths, "How can I assist you then?"

"Well, for one thing Officer David… you're sitting at my desk," she half-laughed, trying to figure out what was going on. Ziva's eyebrows crinkled in confusion.

Gibbs' head snapped up. He knew that voice.

Slowly, as if in a trance, he stood, and moved soundlessly and wordlessly towards the woman. She arched an eyebrow at her boss's and teammates' strange behavior but said or did nothing. Gibbs reached out his hand and caressed the woman's cheek as if to ascertain that she was real.

"Kate?"

-_-_-_-_-=+++++==..-+-=-_++++++===== …

**A/N: Cliffy! Yes, yes (: sorry for the long wait on the update and then a CLIFFHANGER of all things. **

**Please review? I know there are more people following than reviewing so… It can be less than five words. Even two words: Good and job. Please? If you don't, then it feels like I'm not doing a good enough job. :/**

**Darlin24 **


	4. Flashbacks Part 1

**A/N: Sorry for the late update, I had crazy tests, projects, etc. and then a church retreat… but it's up now (: Thanks so much for all of the reviews, etc. you guys! I feel so good every single time I get a review/story alert. I'm going to start sending replying to all of the reviews I get, okay? Kay (:**

**A quick heads-up: This is a lot of flashbacks. I hope I don't confuse anyone too much. I'll put the time (approximately) for each one and the place. This chapter is two loooong parts! Enjoy (:**

**p.s. none of this stuff happened, as I hope you all will be able to tell (:**

*****NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS**

**Time: End of Season 1, season finale when Kate is being held hostage by Ari. It's right before he lets her leave**

**Place: at the picnic table**

"Caitlin…" Ari drawled. He didn't know if he wanted to go through with this… He thought about it for a minute while she continued to sit across from him and scowl. That made up his mind. "I will agree to let you go… if you do me one favor,"

"I am not sleeping with you," she snapped agitatedly.

"I was not going to ask such a thing of you," Ari seemed taken aback.

Kate sighed agitatedly. "What do you want then?" She hated negotiating with terrorists but if it would get home and out of here she'd gladly do it.

"A cheek swab," he reached inside his jacket and held out the test tube containing the cotton swab.

"Excuse me?" she crinkled her eyebrows.

"Please," Ari's eyes were practically smoldering, "It's all I ask. Then you will be free to go, no strings attached."

Still questioning and inquisitive, but wanting to leave, Kate quickly swabbed the inside of her cheek and handed it back to Ari. With a smile, he permitted her to leave.

*****NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS**

**Time: Sometime in season two, probably around the last few episodes. **

**Place: Underground (in both senses of the word) medical facility in D.C.**

"How much longer?" the assistant inquired, tapping her pen on her clipboard.

"Roughly one month. She is progressing rather quickly. We shall soon be able to make the change." The director replied. He continued staring into the classroom like room through the observatory window. His son stood in front of an interactive whiteboard, explaining in detail and earnest to the woman before him.

"So far this is successful. But what happens if there is a glitch of some sort?" the assistant (whose name was Kali, but was always referred to as "the assistant") wondered.

"Then we would not put her in the field. If she is unfit for the job, then she will be terminated," the director replied stonily.

"Sir, I meant after she was placed in the field." Kali detailed herself.

"If she is unfit for the job, then she will be terminated," he repeated, willing patience upon himself. He shifted his glance from the room they were observing to his assistant.

"But if she is in the field-"

"My son is excellent with firearms." Eli David, the director, said icily. He turned back from Kali and continued to watch as Ari taught the clone of Special Agent Caitlin Todd how to imitate the real Kate. In roughly one month they would replace the real Kate with the clone. Eli smiled.

*****NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS**

**Time: May 23****rd****, the day before Kate is shot. It is around 11 at night. **

**Place: Kate's apartment **

Kate Todd sat on her couch, mindlessly flicking through the TV channels. She gripped a mug of coffee in one hand and the remote in the other. She couldn't sleep; her only thoughts were on Ari.

How much he wanted her. Maybe even loved her.

How much Gibbs hated him.

What he really wanted from them, NCIS.

And a little nagging voice in the back of her head wondered why on Earth he'd wanted her DNA.

She sighed and stopped on a controversial documentary about whether or not a singer from the nineties killed himself. The narrator had a bland voice, yet it was one that she couldn't not listen to. He was currently rambling about how when the body was found, a can of root beer was still standing upright and how it couldn't have happened if there was evidence that the singer had fallen on it. Then he contradicted himself by saying that he never fell on the can. Kate smiled a short, soft smile. Abby would've loved to comb through _that_ crime scene.

A knock on her apartment door startled Kate slightly. She glanced at the clock and grew slightly agitated. It was 11:32 PM. Who was visiting her at this hour? A thought hit her and she groaned. If it was Tony, she swore to herself that she'd castrate him right then and there. However, secret service and NCIS agent training kicked in and she slowly and quietly stood up, grabbing her SIG on the way to the door. When she looked the peephole she saw only black. Her senses went on full alert and she swung open the door, gun at the ready.

Big, manly hands grabbed her, restraining her and yanking the gun from her hands. She fought as hard as she could but two more pairs of hands quickly stopped her as well. Just as she was about to yell, a hand clamped over her mouth. A black hood crept into her line of vision. She bit the hand of her silencer and her let go in surprise. This prompted the three others restraining her to loosen their grip. Kate whirled as best she could, but before she could defend herself, the opaque black hood was shoved over her head.

She had noticed three majorly important things beforehand. One, Ari was there. Two, a woman looking exactly like herself stood next to him. Three, he led the look-alike into her apartment, where they both stayed.

Kate willed herself to commit theses three things to memory as she breathed in the sickly sweet smell. _I have to remember._ She thought, but then she drifted off into blackness.

*****NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS**

**Time: May 24****th****, the morning that 'Kate' is killed. **

**Place: Underground Medical Facility in D.C.**

"Ari!" Eli David growled, slamming the analysis report on the table between him and his son. Angrily flipping through it, he paused on a page in the middle and shoved it towards his son.

"Do you understand this?" he shouted.

"Father, please. I have already reviewed the report thoroughly. The Kate clone will not appear any different than the real one. No suspicions will be aroused" Ari soothed as best he could. He'd left the apartment earlier, shortly after "Kate" had departed for work. She was a perfect replica. After all, he'd designed and engineered her.

"Not entirely. Look." Eli jabbed at a tiny asterisk. Ari's eyes traveled down to the bottom of the page where the asterisk was defined. His eyes widened.

"This is not good," he deadpanned.

"Fix it," Eli demanded, closing the file and putting it under his arm.

"Of course, it will be taken care of by this evening," Ari stood up and hastily exited the room.

Two hours later, he was running up stairs to his sniper nest that one of his men had arranged. He positioned himself and gazed through his scope. He saw the youngest member of Gibbs' team fiddling with a computer. His informant explained through their comms units that McGee was attempting to stop the missile. Shifting his sniper slightly, he aimed towards the computer and pulled the trigger. McGee had already scampered behind the car for cover but as long as the computer was destroyed, that was all that mattered.

Ari brought his gaze back up the rooftops where Gibbs, the fake Kate, and Tony were. He saw the fake-Kate yell something and then dive in front of Gibbs. Ari's pulse quickened. Maybe he didn't have to do this after all. Maybe someone had done it for him. Whatever the reason, he was extremely glad the fake-Kate had enough sense to protect Gibbs and not blow her cover. Tony and Gibbs helped her up and the three laughed about something. Ari smirked and angled his sniper just so. A twitch of his finger and the clone fell to the rooftop, dead.

"Sorry Caitlin," he murmured. In his mind he added, _but you would have painfully self-destructed in another week. This way is truly better. This way, there is an easy explanation. _

_Plus, I get to have fun, and toy with Gibbs some more._

*****NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS**

**Time: The day that Ari is killed, about two hours after it happens. **

**Place: Underground medical facility in D.C.**

"My son is dead!" Eli shouted, throwing the real Kate against the wall. "His plan to have a mole inside NCIS was perfect, flawless! However you were cared about too much! Now he is dead!"

Kate said nothing, did nothing. She couldn't. Her body ached too much, was too worn out.

"This is your fault!" he screamed, bringing his palm against her face, splitting her cheek open.

Something about this blame enraged Kate. She found energy to utter one word, "How?"

Eli took a deep breath, visibly attempting to calm himself. "The clone had an expiration date. So we had to terminate it. However your team thought it was _you_ being killed. Because they care about you too much, they have retaliated in an unspeakable way. They have killed my son. My only son.

The plan was to have the clone infiltrate NCIS as a mole. Then after some time, we'd take down the entire organization. It was flawless. The fact that Ari got to keep _you_ and do whatever he pleased with you was an added bonus for him."

Kate pondered all of this while Eli paced the room. His fury was tangible, from her slouched sitting position against the wall. His anger somehow energized her.

"I'm quite aware of what the 'whatever he pleases' entitles," Kate shuddered at the memories. "Why didn't you just make another clone?"

"It took months just to train and fabricate the first! We could not possibly keep up with the expiration dates!" Eli scowled.

"That's _your_ faulty engineering." Kate noted. "This still isn't my fault."

Eli punched her in the nose and blood gushed. "You are stupid and ignorant. I want to kill you,"

"Then kill me," Kate replied stonily, her words like ice.

Eli smirked, "I'd rather have you sit in here, and rot for eternity."

*****NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS**

**Part Two is four clicks away. To access it, first click "Review" then type a review. Click "Submit" then click the "Exit (X)" button to exit the window. Finally, click the "" button to go onto the next chapter (: ha-ha jk but reviews are appreciated (: **


	5. Flashbacks Part 2

**Chapter Four, Part Two**

**A/N: All I have to say is read (:**

*****NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS**

**Time: Around the episode "Bloodbath" (it's been a good year or however long since Ari was killed)**

**Place: A dark, eerily lit tunnel. **

Kate's heart thudded relentlessly inside her, blood coursing through her adrenaline charged veins as she sprinted as fast as she could through the tunnel. It was around midnight, and the damp, dank tunnel kept twisting, keeping Kate on her toes. She pushed herself harder as she heard the distant pounding of feet behind her.

She'd managed to escape ten minutes ago by a sheer stroke of luck. Now she was running, trying to find her way out from the underground. Eli David was back in Israel, so many of the personal attending to her (Eli wanted her to suffer, not die so Kate was brought small rations of food and water per day) were slacking a bit.

The whistle of a bullet zinged past her head, making her hair flutter. She picked up her pace as best she could, but her ankle had been broken by Eli four months ago and hadn't healed perfectly. Tripping on a slab of concrete that was jutting out from the ground, Kate sprawled. A sudden wave and rush of tiredness consumed her and she allowed herself to be brought back to the hellhole she'd almost left.

The next day, at noon, Kate awoke to see Eli David sitting in chair, staring at her.

"You are going to go back home soon." He said, dropping what was the most unexpected bomb in history.

Kate raised an eyebrow.

"But first, we are going to make sure you have no recollection of these past months." Eli explained, and then motioned for someone in the room to step closer. Once again, before Kate could do anything, an opaque black hood filled with a sickly sweet scent enveloped her.

*****NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS***NCIS**

**Time: The morning that Kate comes into NCIS after being 'killed'.**

**Place: Kate's old apartment (Eli pulled some strings so that she has all of her old things back or copies of them anyway)**

**(A/N: In case you didn't pick up on what happened, Kate was brainwashed. She has no recollection past watching the documentary on May 23****rd**** in her apartment. She thinks that Ari is still alive, etc. She has no idea she was cloned and then held hostage. In her mind, she finished the documentary, went to bed, then got up and went to a doctor's appointment then work the next morning, where everything gets **_**hinky**_**) **

Kate stepped out of the office building and hustled over to her car. She had completely forgotten to tell Gibbs that she had a doctor's appointment that morning. _She'd_ completely forgotten until she received a phone call reminding her last night. Her phone was dead and she didn't have a landline so she couldn't call in. She knew she was going to _get_ it when she got to work.

Within twenty minutes, she'd arrived at the Navy Yard. She parked her car and grabbed her things then rushed through security. Stepping into the elevator, she jammed the button that would take her up to the bullpen with her thumb. The elevator ascended, and sounded its trademark _ping_ as it stopped and opened.

She swiftly click-clacked towards the bullpen and froze when she saw her teammates. Tony seemed… older somehow. And McGee had lost a few pounds. Was this some sort of illusion? Tony was younger and more foolish appearing yesterday and McGee had been more… rotund. Gibbs seemed sadder, but it was the kind of sad that wasn't easily detected. It was such a contrast from the anger he'd been radiating lately about Ari which was the only reason Kate noticed.

And then there was the woman sitting at Kate's desk. She had a medium skin tone and long wavy blackish brown hair that was tied up in a ponytail. Her brown eyes were alert even though she seemed to be doing paper work. She gave off a vibe that said she was a force to be reckoned with and was not one to mess with for any reason. Kate automatically began to respect her.

Tony's head shot up, a grin plastered on his face. "Hi, how can I…" he trailed off, and his mouth fell slack. Kate's curiosity began to rise. Why was Tony asking her such a question? Why did he pause?

The woman sitting at Kate's desk locked eyes with her. She spoke with a slight accent. Middle-Eastern perhaps?

"Hello. My name is Officer Ziva David. Is there anything I can do for you?" she inquired politely.

Kate shook her head, trying to organize her muddled thoughts. Her eyebrows were scrunched together. While she attempted to figure things out, McGee looked up from what appeared to also be paperwork. Why was everybody doing stupid, boring, pointless paperwork when Ari was still alive? When he was still out there? McGee's mouth slowly went agape as well. For a fraction of a second, Kate was amused by Tony and McGee's resemblance.

"Boss…" McGee muttered quietly, obviously shocked.

"So…" Ziva began again, as both she and Kate glanced at the two agents and their wide open mouths, "How can I assist you then?"

"Well, for one thing Officer David… you're sitting at my desk," Kate half-laughed, trying to figure out what was going on. Ziva's eyebrows crinkled in confusion.

Gibbs' head snapped up.

Slowly, as if in a trance, he stood, and moved soundlessly and wordlessly towards Kate. She arched an eyebrow at her boss's and teammates' strange behavior but said or did nothing. Gibbs reached out his hand and caressed the woman's cheek as if to ascertain that she was real.

"Kate?" he whispered, unbelieving.

The agent nodded slowly, wondering if Gibbs had overdosed on crazy pills and gone insane. At the sound of her voice, Gibbs seemed to snap out of his trance-like state. He whirled around and demanded that McGee have Abby and Ducky come upstairs. The youngest agent quickly picked up his phone and dialed the numbers to Forensics and Autopsy.

Kate was totally clueless. However, the woman at her desk, _Ziva_, seemed just as lost. Gibbs, McGee, and Tony all were silent for the three minutes it took for Ducky and Abby to get to the bullpen. They rushed in, almost falling over themselves with questions. Worry wrinkled their faces. Gibbs wordlessly gestured to Kate. Even though the rest of the office was still hustling and bustling, as loud as it always was, everything was silent to the seven people in the bullpen.

"Oh my… Abby what happened to you shoulder?" Kate exclaimed, stepping towards her friend but stopping when she felt everyone's icy, disbelief. She now stood in almost the exact center of the bullpen. No one answered her question.

Abby drew in a deep shaky breath as she sank slowly to the floor in shock. Ducky's eyes widened so much that Kate was afraid they'd pop out of his eye sockets and roll around on the floor. Gibbs gently hauled Abby up to her feet. She held onto him for support; her knees were weak with elation, shock, and sadness. Gibbs expression was unreadable.

"My God… Caitlin?" Ducky murmured. Kate nodded, hating that she was so confused. Had she missed something?

"Someone get Jen down here," Gibbs ordered, still staring an indecipherable look at Kate.

"Who's Jen?" Kate wondered as Tony murmured quietly on the phone.

"The director of NCIS," Ziva answered promptly, her eyebrow raised. Who _was_ this person? Why did everyone know this strange woman but her?

"What? I was gone for maybe fifteen hours…?"

"More like fifteen thousand…" Tony muttered as he hung up the phone.

The director hurried down the stairs, and into the bullpen. Her eyes widened.

"Something tells me that there is a lot of explaining to do," Ziva noted.

"That there is, Officer David, that there is…" Jenny murmured.

*******NCIS*****NCIS*****NCIS*****NCIS*****NCIS*****NCIS*****NCIS*****NCIS*****NCIS**

**Muahahahaha (: Yes another slight cliffy! Please review, you will make my day! Also let me know if anything was confusing/unclear/etc. because I know it was a lot with both parts of this extremely long chapter. Thanks so much for reading and following this story (:**

**Darlin24**


	6. The Truth

**A/N: Sorry for the late update everyone! I planned on updating last weekend, but on Friday, (October 15, 2010) at a school a few miles away from mine, a freshman named Will Trautwein committed suicide. I was (and am) torn up about it. I didn't know him personally, but he seemed like a sweet kid. Then my cousin got married. Then it was my birthday… everything has been kind of screwy. Add on my school work and homework…. **

**But I'm updating now. So here you go. I don't know how good it will be, but please review anyway (:**

**P.S. When Kate was 'brainwashed', it wasn't a true brainwash because the horrible, traumatizing, scarring, memories were too far imprinted into her for them to be removed. They were 'locked' away, rather than removed. However when Gibbs and Jenny start questioning her, the memories come back. **

"And that's how I ended up here," Kate finished explaining her story. The team and the director were seated in one of the conference rooms, and Kate was barely holding herself together as she explained everything that had happened. Everything after Ari was slightly vague, since he had been the worst. But still, "reliving" the memories was killing her on the inside.

"Why did Ari want to clone you again?" McGee asked. Kate had sort of skimmed over that part, due to the fact that she didn't know half of it, and also because of the _things_ Ari had done to her.

"He wanted the perfect mole for NCIS," Kate explained elusively.

"Okay, well why would Eli want you to come back here to NCIS?" Jenny wondered, flicking a short glance at Ziva, gauging her reaction to this news. The Mossad remained impassive as always.

"I guess because I escaped. Or, I almost did. They caught me just as I was about to make it out. Eli must have decided I was too big a risk. Besides, nothing was coming from locking me up day after day. It was one thing when Ari was using me for… information" she stumbled slightly over her words. Only Ziva noticed, but she said nothing, "Stuff that would help perfect the mole for NCIS."

"Then who did we see get shot on the rooftop? Because last time I checked, even cloning, psychotic Mossad officers couldn't bring people back from the dead, especially when the person was sniped through their skull," Tony demanded, trying to not sound too harsh. How was this possible? How was Kate here? Her blood had splattered on him. Her body had fallen, lifeless, onto the roof next to him.

"The clone," Kate answered quietly. "She was shot because she would have self-destructed within those next twenty four hours. And Eli and Ari had no idea how to fix it, so Ari shot her and then kept me around for – keeping up the façade." She almost slipped on her words again. "I don't really know specifics. After Ari's sister killed him, Eli only kept me around to keep up the façade, and to torment me."

Gibbs and Ziva stiffened at Kate's blasé mentioning of Ziva shooting Ari.

"Wait, Ari's _sister?_" McGee clarified.

"Yeah, that's what Eli told me. He said that Ari's half-sister was forced to shoot her own brother by… a fed…" Kate trailed off as she realized what had happened. Everyone but Gibbs, Ziva, and Kate were confused. The latter shot Gibbs an incredulous look of disbelief.

"Kate, you don't understand," Gibbs insisted, fueling the argument that Kate's stare/glare had induced.

"I really don't," she remarked, half-sarcastically.

"You wouldn't be able to," Gibbs replied smoothly.

"Are you calling me incompetent?" Kate was about to get very outraged, very quickly.

"No. I'm just saying that it's all very complicated and now is not the time," Gibbs' eyes told Kate to shut up about the matter and he'd explain later. Kate chose to look away and press her luck.

"How can you let her work here?" she hissed, casting a glance over at Ziva. The rest of the team's heads swiveled to look at the Israeli.

"Because he trusts me," Ziva spoke up finally.

"What does that mean? That he doesn't trust me?" Kate inquired, her incredulity steadily growing.

"Possibly,"

"Gibbs!"

"Kate, Ziva, both of you. Calm down, now." Gibbs demanded. "Look, Kate, this is all extremely twisted. We will explain it to you later. Ziva, don't antagonize her."

"Wait, Boss, does that mean that you aren't going to explain it to us?" Tony wondered, pushing his luck as always. Gibbs gave him a look that would soon make Tony push daisies. "Of course you won't. It's none of our business."

"Au Contraire, Agent DiNozzo… As the director of NCIS I find it extremely interesting as to what Gibbs and Officer David have to add to Agent Todd's story." Jenny interjected firmly.

"Jen, don't," Gibbs implored, taking a deep breath. This was about to get very bad.

Jenny met his icy blue eyes with a gaze just as cold.

"As your boss, Jethro, I am ordering you to tell me what you, Agent Todd, and Officer David know, that the rest of us don't," Jenny commanded, playing her "Director" card.

Gibbs sighed agitatedly then proceeded to tell the _real_ story of what happened in his basement. Everyone's eyes shifted from Gibbs to Jenny to Ziva and back again. When Gibbs finished, Jenny was absolutely livid. Ziva sat quietly, allowing her normally perfect Mossad posture to slip into a slightly depressed looking slouch.

"Agent Gibbs, that completely circumvents NCIS protocol," she fumed, standing up from her position at the head of the table.

"It was the only way," Gibbs argued, rising from his spot at the other end of the conference table.

"I don't believe that," she smirked.

"Okay fine, you tell me how it should have played out,"

"For one thing, you shouldn't have been alone when you _knew_ that Ari was going to be there. You should have had back-up and-"

"Oh, like you had in Paris?" Gibbs shot back, a slip of the tongue. He immediately stiffened.

"What happened in Paris?" Tony wondered aloud. "Right, none of my business," he edited upon seeing Gibbs and Jenny's glares.

"Nothing," The two answered at the same time.

There was almost a full minute of extremely awkward silence. Jenny broke it.

"Well, Agent Todd, it's very obvious that you've been through quite an ordeal. I will feel reassured if you are examined for any treatable or attention-necessitating injuries by Doctor Mallard and I will feel even better if you stay with one of the agents tonight," Jenny gave Gibbs a look that said _we _will_ talk about this later. _

"That's really not necessary," Kate mumbled. "I will be perfectly fine in my own apartment," Yet even as she said it, memories from when she was abducted flashed back to her. Pain forced her to visibly cringe.

"She'll stay with me," Gibbs and Tony decided at the same time.

Tony quickly back pedaled, "I meant, Kate will stay with you, boss,"

"You got that right DiNozzo,"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

_Later that night…_

The case had pretty much been blown to heck. For the day, anyway. The team had tried to work on finding out who had shot Abby, but with little evidence, coupled with the fact that they knew that Kate was being checked over by Ducky, made for a restless, unproductive team. Gibbs didn't even lecture them. Instead, he spent the better part of what was left of the day in Abby's lab comforting her. A call from Tony at around oh five hundred brought him up to the squad room.

Finally, Ducky had given Kate the OK to leave. Gibbs, ever the gentleman, guided Kate from the bullpen with a light touch of his hand on her back. But, being Gibbs, he yelled instructions at his team as the two stepped into the elevator.

"DiNozzo, McGee, go over to her apartment, gather anything and everything. This might be related to our current cases."

The elevator descended after its usual _ping_ and the walk to Gibbs' car was spent in a comfortable silence that can only be obtained from knowing someone for so long, and so well. As Gibbs drove home, he noted all of the physical features about Kate that absolutely screamed _tortured_.

Her normally sparkling brown eyes were dull, and seemed sunken and hollow in her pale, practically anemic face. Her hair was limp, lying flat against her scalp. She was skinny, skinnier than normal. She appeared almost anorexic. The day had really taken its toll on her. When she'd first arrived, she looked polished and professional, but like she hadn't slept in a week. By now she was completely worn down. All in all, she seemed shrunken and helpless and ready to pass out. **(A/N: Think Ziva after Somalia but worse, since Kate didn't have macho tough Mossad training)**.

The two arrived at Gibbs house and he helped her from the car, and through the front door then upstairs. Wordlessly, he led her to his room and handed her an old pair of sweats and a t-shirt then directed her to the bathroom to change. She emerged a few minutes later.

"You need to sleep." Gibbs told her, nodding at the bed.

"What about you?"

"I don't plan on sleeping tonight," he gestured to his SIG and his coffee.

"This isn't necessary." She protested weakly but climbed onto the mattress anyway. Gibbs sent her a look that said not to argue.

Within minutes, Kate was completely passed out, curled into herself slightly, as if protecting herself. Gibbs sat against the wall, keeping an eye on the door and windows, and an ear on the doors and windows downstairs. He fingered his SIG, thinking about how many things were interrelating and twisting together and how screwed up these three cases all mushed together were when his phone buzzed.

"Yeah," he answered quietly.

"Gibbs," the voice on the other end sounded slightly panicked.

"What is it, Officer David?" he very nearly growled. What could have possibly come up that Jenny couldn't handle?

"We've got another dead marine," Ziva paused for a moment before elucidating, "In the back of my car,"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

**A/N: Okay everyone, calm down, and let's discuss this rationally. Hey, you with the shotgun in Montana, PUT IT DOWN! Haha (; either this was going to be twice as long as it is, or I put a cliffy (: **

**I chose the latter, as they're more fun. For me anyway. Please review! Positive feedback will make me want to upload the next chapter this weekend (since I already have it written) so please do it (: **

**Peace, Love, and Hugs, not drugs,  
Darlin24**


	7. Perfume

**A/N: You all spoil me. What with the numerous reviews and story alerts… Thanks for every single one of them (:**

**When/If something is confusing and/or I don't explain it well enough, please let me know so I can fix it. Not much to say other than that; read&review please!**

"What?" Gibbs demanded, making sure to keep his voice low.

"I- oh God, he is still bleeding," Ziva answered, "Does that mean he is still alive? He does not appear to be breathing…"

"Ziva, that car is a crime scene, put on gloves _now_, before you touch anything," Gibbs ordered, already on his feet, ready to spring into action. Kate would be safe enough at his place for a couple hours.

"I am," the sound of Ziva snapping the rubber onto her hands was heard through the phone by Gibbs.

"Good. Check his pulse, if he's still alive, get an ambulance." He instructed, pulling on his jacket.

"I do not have a pulse…" Ziva whispered, after pressing two fingers to the carotid artery for a few seconds.

"You said he was still bleeding right? Time of death can't be much earlier than now. Get McGee to access the security footage and find out who did it. I'm on my way," Gibbs instructed as he took one last look at the slumbering Kate. For a split second, his decision wavered. The logical side of him said that the chance of anything happening to her while she was _sleeping_ were slim, especially if he was only gone a couple hours. Yet the agent side of him said to wake Kate up and bring her with him to maintain protection and work the crime scene as well. Then there was the rare compassionate side of him that said to let the poor woman sleep, while he went out and 'saved the world' again.

"Okay," Ziva replied, her voice had leveled out from being slightly shaky earlier. "His name is Petty Officer Cameron Post," she reported as she pulled the wallet from the deceased's pocket. A sudden recognition dawned on her, "This is one of Petty Officer Noel's friends. He was in Noel's unit. Tony and I interviewed him yesterday since he was with Noel just before he was murdered,"

"Anything else?" Gibbs inquired, already starting the car. He backed onto the street rapidly.

"I do not think so. I am going to go back and-"

"You stay with the body, Ziva," Gibbs commanded, "Call McGee, get him working on security footage from the past two hours. Is DiNozzo still there? Have him run background on Post. Then get Ducky and Palmer down there. I want a time of death." He snapped the phone shut.

~~~~~-~~~~~-~~~~~NCIS~~~~~-~~~~~-~~~~~NCIS~~~~~-~~~~~-~~~~~

Ziva finished making her calls, and finally closed her phone after explaining the situation to Ducky. On a sudden impulse, she called Jenny.

"Yes, Officer David?" answered the director. Ziva pictured how alert she'd be, even though it was close to nine o'clock at night, which meant that Jenny had been working for more than 12 hours straight.

"There is a dead marine in the back of my car," she deadpanned.

"What?"

"I have already notified Gibbs, McGee, Tony, and Ducky." Ziva continued.

Jenny sighed, letting the fact that Ziva had called her, _the director,_ last, slide. "Okay, I am on my way down,"

When Gibbs arrived ten minutes later, Jenny, Ziva, Ducky and Palmer were crowded around Ziva's car. He parked a few feet away, not in a parking spot. There were few cars still here anyway.

"What do we got?" he questioned, stepping out of the car and slamming the door behind him. It was then that he noticed that Jenny was comforting Ziva, who seemed distraught and upset, while Ducky and Palmer wearily observed preliminary findings and time of death.

"What do we got?" he repeated, stepping closer to Ziva and Jenny.

Jenny gave Ziva a gentle squeeze around the shoulder then stepped away. "Jethro…" she started cautiously. She held out a gun for him to look at. Gibbs furrowed his eyebrows as he snapped on gloves and took the gun from Jenny. He turned it over and inspected the other side.

The gun was a standard, Government Issue SIG. The exact same kind that all agencies carried. The exact same kind that NCIS agents carried. The exact same kind that his team carried. The exact same kind that Ziva carried. Gibbs looked at Jenny questioningly.

"So? It's an agent's gun," He switched the gun to his other hand. "But it's not loaded," he noted as he felt the gun's weight difference from a fully loaded SIG.

"But there is something in it," Jen whispered, taking the firearm back and withdrawing a small, folded piece of paper from where the cartridge usually went. She handed it wordlessly to Gibbs. He opened it carefully and read it.

_Ziva, looking for this? _Was scripted in an elegant calligraphy.

"What the hell?" he asked aloud, since it was the only thought going through his head at the moment.

"I don't know. But it's her primary. She's been using her back-up," Jenny explained, repossessing the note before bagging it along with the gun.

Gibbs glanced at Ziva, who stood stoically next to her car. He'd suspected (or rather, his _gut _had suspected) that she hadn't been completely truthful about her gun when he'd asked. Ducky walked up to Gibbs and Jenny looking unnerved.

"What is it Duck?" Gibbs asked agitatedly.

"The time of death was between thirty minutes and one hour ago."

"Let McGee know," he instructed, before walking a few more feet away and beckoning Jenny to follow. Ducky returned to the car.

"What?" Jenny asked in a whisper.

"Ziva needs to be in custody," he told her quietly.

"Excuse me?"

"She has no alibi for the night of Noel's death-"

"Neither does anyone else on your team!" Jenny interjected angrily. Gibbs shook his head, signaling her to stop before he continued.

"With Ducky's time of death, she has no alibi for that either. From what it sounds like, she got here just as he died. How do we know she didn't do it? She's had opportunity, time,-"

"But no motive," Jenny hissed, not wanting to believe that one of their own had been corrupted.

"But with everything that's happened with Kate with Eli, I don't know how much we can trust her."

"Just because they're related, doesn't mean she knew about Eli's… experiment."

"Are you trying to tell me that in all this time, not one single word or hint was dropped about it?"

"I don't know." Her voice rose from the previous quiet tones they'd been using. "There's too much circumstantial evidence." Jenny continued softly, "Besides, I'm surprised that you'd even consider Ziva. Especially since she's confident to put complete trust in you and seems to have faith that you return that trust."

Gibbs sighed and strode back over to Ziva. This wasn't an ordinary case. Jenny was going to argue that to her grave. But if it _were_ an ordinary case, and if Kate hadn't waltzed into the naval yard today, then Gibbs and Jenny would be on the same side. The side of putting Ziva in custody. It was an unusual case, he'd give her that much; but he was going to work it like a regular case. Besides, his head might explode if there were any more exceptions and surprises.

"David, I thought you said you had your gun,"

"Technically, I never said that I had my _primary_ one. I only said I had _a_ gun in my desk drawer." Ziva replied slowly and softly.

"Gibbs!" Jenny called from next to Ducky which was where she'd moved to once Gibbs had walked away.

"What?" he snapped. He really needed a coffee refill.

"Whoever did this left another note," Jenny held out the heavily perfumed paper. Ducky had found it in the victim's shirt pocket. Gibbs scrunched his nose upon smelling the rich fragrance.

_Three is a magic number Agent Gibbs. Everything is interrelated. Post is dead, Noel is dead, think._

The difference between this note and the first one was the perfume on the second, and the second was scrawled rather than scripted. On the second note, there was also a message written in Hebrew on the back.

"David," Gibbs motioned the Mossad over. She stepped over tentatively.

"Yes?"

"What does this mean?" he pointed at the rounded characters for Ziva to translate.

"It says… 'Another death will soon follow'…"

Gibbs just stared at the Mossad officer.

And stared.

And stared.

And stared.

Finally, he found his voice (which he'd been losing a lot today) and growled, "Have McGee call whoever is in charge of the unit that Post and Noel were in. Have him put everyone in that unit under a protection detail."

Ziva nodded and started dialing on her cell phone. She walked a few feet away, murmuring into it.

Gibbs sniffed the second note, the perfumed one, again. The scent was familiar somehow. It was as if he'd smelt it before, but hadn't in a while. He furrowed his brow and gave it to Jenny.

"Why is this familiar?" he wondered as she wrinkled her nose at the fruity, flowery scent.

"I don't know. It's not familiar to me,"

"Me either," Ziva seconded, walking back over to Gibbs and Jenny. Gibbs looked at her.

"McGee is notifying Post and Noel's supervisor of what has happened," she reported. Gibbs nodded.

"Got everything you need, Duck?" he called to the medical examiner.

"Yes," Ducky replied, pulling off the gloves he'd been wearing.

"Good. I'll have Tony get the car to the evidence garage and then gather any evidence that's in the parking lot," Gibbs took out his phone and dialed his senior field agent.

"Hey Boss,"

"DiNozzo, get down here and tow Ziva's car to the evidence garage. Then I want you collecting all the evidence in the parking lot."

Gibbs heard Tony groan quietly, as if he was trying to make sure that Gibbs couldn't hear. "On it Boss,"

Gibbs snapped his phone shut.

"Ducky, Palmer, you can go ahead and take Post down to autopsy. Jen," he gave her a meaningful look which she interpreted to mean 'Take Officer David to Interrogation or an equivalent'.

~~~~~-~~~~~-~~~~~NCIS~~~~~-~~~~~-~~~~~NCIS~~~~~-~~~~~-~~~~~

"Hey Abs," Gibbs called as he entered the lab. Abby didn't respond.

"Abby?"

Just as Gibbs was starting to panic, he saw the Goth forensic scientist asleep at her desk. His lips quirked into a half smile as he gently shook her awake.

"What are you still doing here?" he asked as she roused from her slumber.

"I was just-" she yawned and Gibbs leaned over to turn down the music that was blasting. "-Was finishing up this one report. You know, double-checking my grammar and spelling because I didn't want-"

"You are not supposed to be working," Gibbs instructed firmly.

"But I'm fine," she argued.

"Come on," he rolled his eyes and drew her up from the chair. As he did so, Tony came bursting through the elevator and into the lab.

It had been maybe ten minutes, what could he have found? Gibbs wondered.

"Boss!" Tony huffed, clearly out of breath from running.

"What is it DiNozzo?"

"I know why Ziva and the Director don't recognize the perfume on the second note!"

"Second note? What second note? There was a first note?" Abby inquired.

"Why?" Gibbs asked.

"They weren't there," Tony explained.

"What do you mean they weren't there? Jenny and Ziva were probably the first two people at the scene, and the first two to see Post," Gibbs was getting agitated. Tony had a head-slap coming in about a minute.

"Crime scene? What?" Abby was getting more and more lost.

"No, Boss, they weren't there, or here or _whatever,"_ Tony was getting frustrated; he couldn't make the words comes out fast enough. "May 24th. Kate was wearing it,"

"Kate was wearing what?" Abby questioned uselessly.

"It's Kate's perfume?" Gibbs gut lurched violently.

Tony nodded.

**A/N: Happy Halloween! Haha sorry for the late update, I know I promised it last weekend. But just as I was about to upload it, I came up with this last part and had to write it but didn't know how… Writer's block/creatively stymied… not fun. Originally, Abby was gonna smell the perfume on Gibbs and ask why he smelled like Kate's perfume but I changed it so Tony was in there. Plus that way Gibbs wouldn't smell all girly, as interesting as that would have been ;)**

**Please review, they make my day! (:  
Darlin24**


	8. The Dreaded AN

**Author's Note: I bet you are all thinking that I'm putting this story on a hiatus… but that is not the case! Be still your beating hearts and do not fear, for I will update! It just won't be before Sunday…. At best. Basically, my teachers think it will be fun to swamp us with projects, homework and tests the week before Thanksgiving. And during our break, we have (you guessed it) more homework and projects and tests the day we go back to school. Whatever. **

**Besides that annoying fact, my muses (their names are Astrid and Anya) are dead silent. They got into a fight and are now giving each other the silent treatment, which in turn, makes them silent towards me. **

**I feel bad for not updating, especially after a cliff-hanger, so here's a sneak-peak of what I managed to write without the muses' help, but please be aware that it may not end up in the next chapter as I may very well scrap what I have and start over… but for now, here is the preview:**

McGee approached Gibbs with a very solemn and distraught façade. Gibbs looked up from his desk and snapped, "What, McGee?"

Everything was, in a word, crazy. Kate and Abby were downstairs in her lab, and breaking a lot of the "rules" that the doctors had set for Abby about no working. Kate was doing most of it for her, and Abby just directed it. They had three cases, and none of them seemed to interrelate in the slightest. They had to go back over what little evidence they had from when Abby was shot, and then there was the vast amount of evidence from the two crime scenes from where the Marines were killed. On top of all of that, they had to figure out the whole "Kate/Ziva" deal and how Eli fit into everything now.

"Boss… it's Agent Cassidy." McGee barely refrained from stammering.

"What about Agent Cassidy, McGee?" Gibbs swore, if Cassidy needed help on a case, he'd lose it so fast… The last thing they needed was even a tiny thread of another case on their plate right now.

McGee gulped. "She's dead."

**I know. I'm so bad; I just keep torturing you all. But hey, if chapter 7 isn't up by Sunday night, feel free to PM me or review and say "UPDAAAAATEE!" kay? Cool (:  
P.S. While Cassidy does die in the show, it's not until season 4 or 5. This is set in season 3. **

**P.P.S. Even though this is mainly an author's note, I would love to get a review or two saying that you're anxiously awaiting the next chapter…? *hint*hint* it might make me update faster **_***hint*hint***_

_**Anxiously awaiting the Tuesday, November 23, 2010 episode of NCIS,**_**  
**_**Darlin24**_


	9. Numb3rs

**A/N: Soooo I'm just now realizing (after reading about 4 dozen fics containing them…) that I probably should have a disclaimer in here somewhere…  
This is my disclaimer:**

**I DO NOT OWN NCIS; I am merely borrowing the characters, etc.  
I do however own this plotline so if Shane Brennan wants to use it, I want some moola for it (; **

**There (: Now I won't have lawyers breathing down my neck…**

**Okay. Enough babbling. Read por favor! (:**

~~~~~-~~~~~-~~~~~NCIS~~~~~-~~~~~-~~~~~NCIS~~~~~-~~~~~-~~~~~~~~~~-~~~~~-~~~~~NCIS~~~~~-~~~~~-~~~~~NCIS~~~~~-~~~~~-~~~~~

_Previously…_

"_It's Kate's perfume?" Gibbs gut lurched violently. _

_Tony nodded. _

Gibbs was out of Abby's lab before Tony had finished nodding. Bypassing the elevator for the much quicker stairs, he sprinted up them, already mentally calculating how quickly he could get back to his house to ascertain that Kate was okay. Everything made sense now. Well, not _everything_, but at least one thing did.

_Another death will soon follow._

That was bad enough.

_Three is a magic number. _

There would only be a total of three deaths (hopefully).

_May 24__th_

They'd just been discussing all of that earlier today.

_Everything is interrelated. _

Kate's perfume was on the _freaking note_. How much clearer did it get?

Ignoring the questions that followed him as he tore through the bullpen and to his desk, he swiftly grabbed a second magazine for his SIG. Still not bothering to answer any questions or snap back at the remarks, he raced from the building and to one of the sedans, knowing it would be much quicker than his truck. He slammed his foot onto the accelerator in a very Gibbs-esque way. In just under twelve minutes, he was screeching to a halt in front of his house.

The front door was open.

~~~~~-~~~~~-~~~~~NCIS~~~~~-~~~~~-~~~~~NCIS~~~~~-~~~~~-~~~~~~~~~~-~~~~~-~~~~~NCIS~~~~~-~~~~~-~~~~~NCIS~~~~~-~~~~~-~~~~~

Conference Room

"Director, will you please explain to me why I am here?" Ziva asked for the fifth time. Mossad hadn't actually taught her patience; they'd taught her to grab the person and beat them for answers. However, since being in the U.S., she'd learned somewhat of a control, but that didn't mean she had to use it. For the fifth time, Jenny merely flicked a glance at the Israeli but disregarded her inquiries. Secretly, Jenny wondered why Ziva didn't just attack her and pin her to the ground, demanding answers.

Secretly, Ziva wondered why she didn't just attack the director and pin her to the ground demanding answers. The answer evaded her however, and she fumed silently.

"Agent Gibbs…" The Director began after a few minutes hesitation. "Believes you to be a suspect, regarding Petty Officers Noel and Post's deaths. He instru- asked if I'd watch after you…" she'd almost said that Gibbs had _instructed_ her to do something. She was _his _boss, it was not the other way around.

"What?" Ziva deadpanned. "How can he think that? To begin with, I have an alibi for the time of the first death,"

"You do?" Jen interrupted; her curiosity had risen considerably.

Ziva nodded. "I was here at NCIS,"

"That's easy enough to verify-wait, didn't Doctor Mallard say that he could only estimate a time of death for Noel since he'd been covered in water and alcohol and it was freezing that night?" Jenny narrowed her eyes slightly.

"Regardless." Ziva modified her answer. Her face set into a slight glower at the Director's accusations.

Jenny, not unnerved by Ziva's glaring, began to grow suspicious…

~~~~~-~~~~~-~~~~~NCIS~~~~~-~~~~~-~~~~~NCIS~~~~~-~~~~~-~~~~~~~~~~-~~~~~-~~~~~NCIS~~~~~-~~~~~-~~~~~NCIS~~~~~-~~~~~-~~~~~

Gibbs' Place

Hastily, yet thoroughly, Gibbs cleared the main level and basement in about 30 seconds flat. He continued more quietly up the stairs. Sweeping the rest of the upstairs hurriedly, he hesitated for a split second in front of the bedroom door where Kate had been sleeping. Then, shaking off the foreboding feeling, he swung the door open.

He was stupid for leaving her alone tonight. It wasn't going to happen again. She was going to be under protective custody around the clock from this point. Kate lay there, sleeping still. Gibbs exhaled a sigh of relief and slid down the wall into a sitting position, his body overwhelmed with relief.

Kate stirred at the noise and sat up. Seeing Gibbs, with his gun still in hand, she became fully alert. "What's going on?" she inquired, slipping out from beneath the covers and going to sit down next to her boss.

"Nothing. We thought… never mind. It's fine now." Gibbs replied, clicking the safety back into place.

"Gibbs-" Kate began but he cut her off.

"Don't worry about it. Go back to sleep,"

~~~~~-~~~~~-~~~~~NCIS~~~~~-~~~~~-~~~~~NCIS~~~~~-~~~~~-~~~~~~~~~~-~~~~~-~~~~~NCIS~~~~~-~~~~~-~~~~~NCIS~~~~~-~~~~~-~~~~~

The next day, Gibbs had cooled off slightly, but not by much. The perfume thing still lingered in his mind. Upon arriving in the office with Kate, and remembering that the team had _three_ cases to be worked, he had decided that he couldn't afford to have Ziva as a suspect and pretended like he'd never even considered her as one, for which the Director glared at him. He set Ziva working on who shot Abby, since that had no ties to her. Tony was occupied with figuring out the Kate/Ari/Eli and cloning issue. McGee was given the case with the petty officers.

Everything was, in a word, crazy. Kate and Abby were downstairs in her lab, and breaking a lot of the "rules" that the doctors had set for Abby about no working. Kate was doing most of it for her, and Abby just directed it. They had three cases, and none of them seemed to interrelate in the slightest. They had to go back over what little evidence they had from when Abby was shot, and then there was the vast amount of evidence from the two crime scenes from where the Marines were killed. On top of all of that, they had to figure out the whole "Kate/Ziva" deal and how Eli fit into everything now.

While Tony was getting take-out for lunch, and Ziva was getting evidence reports from Abby, McGee approached Gibbs with a very solemn and distraught façade. Gibbs looked up from his desk and snapped, "What, McGee?"

"Boss… it's Agent Cassidy." McGee barely refrained from stammering.

"What about Agent Cassidy, McGee?" Gibbs swore, if Cassidy needed help on a case, he'd lose it so fast… The last thing they needed was even a tiny thread of another case on their plate right now.

McGee gulped. "She's dead."

The coffee in Gibbs' hand dropped and splashed onto the floor surrounding his desk. He shot to his feet.

"_What?"_ he demanded.

"Two locals found her body in her car about a couple hours ago. Metro was called to the scene and when they found out that she was NCIS, they called us," he explained quietly.

"Damn it!" Gibbs swore and rubbed his forehead. His head ached already; no doubt that Jenny would have _him_ investigate this even though she knew damn well that his team was already stacked with cases… "Anything else, McGee? Cause of death? Time?" he asked, slightly calmer than he was a minute ago. He was trying very hard to not blow up at his youngest agent, especially since he was merely the messenger.

"Yeah… but you won't like it,"

"McGee…" Gibbs threatened, a warning tone clearly spelled out in his voice. It said that as hard as he was trying to not, he might just shoot the messenger.

"She bled to death. She was shot in both shoulders and hips."

The two stood in revered silence for a few minutes. Mourning. Thinking. Fuming. Everything. Tony bound into the bullpen smiling, and carrying Chinese takeout. "What'd I miss?" he inquired happily.

Gibbs just looked at his senior field agent. He walked out from behind his desk and went to pat Tony on the shoulder solemnly. "I'm sorry Tony," he whispered then left to go inform the director.

Tony stared after his boss. Why the hell was Gibbs _apologizing_ to him? An icy hand grabbed his heart. What had happened to Kate? They'd only just gotten her back. The foreboding feeling intensified. What had happened to _Ziva_? No, it couldn't be her. Tony knew that Gibbs was considering her as a suspect, but… she'd been working a case all morning!

"Probie! Why did Gibbs just apologize?" Tony snapped, dropping the bag of foreign food on his desk.

"Tony, I'm sorry too." McGee said. Tony gave him a look and he quickly began to explain, "One of the other NCIS agents was found dead this morning."

The ominous feeling relinquished its iron-clad grip, yet remained somewhat, and Tony had to wonder why. Kate, Ziva, Abby, and Jenny had all made it in this morning. None of them had yet to leave the building. Ducky and Palmer were here. McGee and Gibbs were obviously here. Everyone was here and well. So why was he sensing that something awful was about to happen?

"The agent bled to death, due to being shot in both shoulders and hips." McGee continued, gauging Tony's reaction. Tony's eyes suddenly narrowed, as he realized that McGee was avoiding revealing the gender of the deceased.

"McGee." Tony stepped right in front of the younger agent and was about a foot from his face. "Tell me who was killed,"

Tim looked into Tony's eyes, and forced himself to not break the hold, even under Tony's intense gaze. He forced himself to utter the words, to even out his voice and to not break when Tony did.

"Paula Cassidy,"

Tony slowly sank into his desk chair. "No. That can't be. How is that possible?" he began murmuring incomprehensively to himself, while tears brimmed in his eyes. _DiNozzo men don't cry_. He told himself sternly. This might be an exception. After making sure that he could speak without completely losing it, and with somewhat of composure, he said, "I was with her at two this morning after collecting evidence from last night. We were just talking," Tony added on quickly upon seeing McGee's incredulous look. "I left at around three,"

"No time of death yet since Metro called us as soon as they figured out she was one of us. They didn't touch anything after that," McGee explained.

Tony sighed. He had only slept for about three hours last night, and other than that, had been awake since the morning Kate walked into the bullpen. Truthfully, he wanted to cry and mourn, but he didn't have it in him.

"Gear up," Gibbs commanded, striding back into the bullpen with a fresh cup of coffee. "McGee gas the truck," he tossed the keys to the probationary agent, "Tony get Ducky and Palmer to meet us in front of Cassidy's building, then have Ziva meet us at the car," Gibbs was leaving the bullpen when he noted that his senior agent had pretty much been up for two days straight.

"Tony," Gibbs extended his arm and handed his senior field agent his coffee.

"Thanks boss,"

~~~~~-~~~~~-~~~~~NCIS~~~~~-~~~~~-~~~~~NCIS~~~~~-~~~~~-~~~~~~~~~~-~~~~~-~~~~~NCIS~~~~~-~~~~~-~~~~~NCIS~~~~~-~~~~~-~~~~~

_At the crime scene_

"Ziva, shoot and sketch; Tony, get witness statements; McGee, bag and tag," Gibbs ordered as they stepped out of the sedan.

_Click. Click. Click, click, click. _ The shutter sound of the camera going off frequently was putting Tony on edge. He hadn't seen Paula yet and he didn't want to. He was holding everything together with just a tiny shred of sanity.

"So at about what time did you find Agent Cassidy," Tony stumbled over her name but kept his face relatively impassive as he inquired the man and woman who had called Metro.

"Well, we usually go for our morning run together at around seven, but I overslept this morning and our daughter, Becca, had to be driven to school to take in a project which meant she didn't take the bus and-"

Tony cut the woman off.

"Ma'am, if you can just tell me the time…?" he didn't want to hear about their darling little daughter, who probably had a vast amount a friends and good grades and loving parents… Paula had wanted to settle down one day. He shook off their discussion from last night.

"It was around, nine to nine-thirty," clarified her husband.

"So I assume that you called local leos around the same time?" Tony scribbled in his notebook.

"I'm sorry? We don't know any Leos locally. But we do know a Leonard, but he lives in Detroit-" the woman began again.

"Leo. Law enforcement officer. The police. Whatever you'd like to call them. When did you phone them?" Tony grit his teeth together. This lady was worse than Ducky.

"Pretty much as soon as we found her," the husband answered.

Tony jotted down a few more things, got their names and told them to stay reachable. He slowly turned and walked towards the car. There were no bullet holes in the windshield, which meant that the shooter had to have been in the car. Paula wasn't stupid. One foot after the other, he made his way to the car. Ziva was crouched next to the driver's door, scrawling a depiction of the handle, which had blood smears on it. Tony looked away. Gibbs and McGee stood at the back of the car, examining the license plate. Tony jogged over.

"Want me to run the plate boss?" he inquired, glancing at the six number-letter combination.

"Why would we run the plate?" Gibbs asked back.

"Because it's not Paula's plate number?" Tony answered confusedly. Gibbs brow furrowed.

"Then why the hell is it so familiar?" he demanded, bringing his hand to his mouth on instinct, but quickly remembered that he'd given away his coffee.

"Don't know. Doesn't look familiar to me," Tony replied tersely.

Gibbs stared hard at the metal plate for a solid minute. Suddenly, recognition dawned noticeably on his face. "Oh," he muttered.

"What?" McGee and Tony wondered simultaneously.

"34JK6D," Gibbs read the registration code off. "That's what Abby signed to me after she was shot. It's the number of the car of the person who shot her," he shoved the already bagged template into Tony's hands and strode away furiously.

**A/N: *winces slightly* Okay, so please don't hate me. But I didn't want this chapter to be like 4,000 words. Pretty, pretty please review! I've got the next chapter almost done (hooray for holiday breaks!) so can we try and get the review number up to 50 before I post the next chapter? Please? Thank you all so much for reading and sticking with this story!**

_**Still anxiously awaiting TONIGHT'S episode (EEEP!),  
Darlin24**_


	10. A whole lot of nothing

**A/N: Heh, heh, heh… heh… *notices glaring townspeople with pitchforks and torches* oh. See it's kind of a funny story. Really, there are legitimate reasons for my not updating in forever. But you don't care so… on with the story! **

Once the team had finished processing the crime scene, they headed back to NCIS. Gibbs went down to check on Kate and Abby and deliver another heaping load of evidence at which the pair groaned. They reached eagerly for the Caf-Pow and coffee that Gibbs held in his hands for them then Abby went back to instructing Kate on how to test a blood sample. Their leader left and returned to the bullpen because he knew perfectly well that Ducky would not have even changed into his greens yet, much less perform the autopsy. He sat down at his desk and began massaging his temples.

"Hey boss, um, I was wondering…" Tony began, as he sifted through the mountainous load of files on his desk. "How are we splitting all of this stuff up? Cause it'll be kinda confusing to try and figure out four different case at once…"

The realization hit Gibbs as Tony said that. "What did you just ask?"

"How are we working the cases?" Tony repeated.

"No, you said _splitting up_," Gibbs replied, "Which is exactly what we _shouldn't_ be doing."

He was met with confused expressions, raised eyebrows, and wary looks.

"What?" Tony asked carefully.

"We're splitting everything up which is why we're not getting the full picture. We need to mix it all up so that we can see how it all interrelates. There might be references to something in the Petty Officers' files that helps us with who shot Abby, or something dealing with Kate that helps us in figuring out who killed Paula," Gibbs explained as he stood up and strode over to his senior field agent's desk. "Hell, maybe the same person or persons is behind all of it,"

"Okay?" Tony replied, still slightly confused as Gibbs took all the folders and began passing one out to each agent.

"Ziva you'll take Paula. Tony- petty officers. McGee you've got Abby." Gibbs detailed and slapped the corresponding file on each desk. He sat back down at his desk and it was understood that Gibbs would review what little information they had on Kate, Ari, and Eli. "If one person is focusing on one case but everyone is compiling the information then we should get something,"

"Okay. Let's go through what we know so far." Gibbs instructed, "We know that the license plate number on Paula's car was also the one that Abby remembers seeing the person who shot her drive off in."

"So we can assume that the person or persons responsible for those crimes are the same." McGee interjected. "I think we should put out a B.O.L.O. on Agent Cassidy's plate since the killer's plate was swapped with her own. Well, supposedly."

"Do it, McGee," Gibbs decided and went on to the next part, "DiNozzo is the rest of Post and Noel's unit still under that protection detail?"

"Yep. Their C.O. is personally overseeing everything."

Gibbs skimmed over the first page of his file for a few seconds then snapped his head up, "Wouldn't you be concerned if someone who was supposed to be dead came through security?" he asked.

"I would be," Tony replied, "Why?"

"Why didn't security call the Director and ask her why a Special Agent who was thought to be dead was coming in the building?" Gibbs wondered angrily. "Especially since Kate had her badge and everything?" He reached for his phone and dialed the number to security but halfway through, he stopped and replaced the phone on its base.

"What is it boss?" Tony inquired.

"They would have. Someone in security is in on the Kate thing." He groaned and leaned back in his chair. "Ziva! What do we have on Cassidy that relates to this?"

"Well, Agent Cassidy was working on stopping a drug cartel leader who is attempting to bring his dealers up the east coast. Other than that, not much was out of the ordinary."

"What cartel?"

"Reynosa,"

Gibbs froze for half a second before responding with, "Never heard of them,"

It was quiet for a few minutes, save for the sound of pages turning, and pens scribbling. That gave Tony an idea. "Hey boss, this doesn't add up,"

"A lot of things aren't adding up DiNozzo."

"No. Well, yeah I mean you're right about that but…. How did the note in Petty Officer Post's front pocket not have any blood on it? It was spotless. Even if someone had put it there after he was dead, it'd still have _something_ on it. And why was it scrawled? The other note was scripted but this one was written hastily, as if they were running out of time."

"Ziva are you sure you didn't hear or see _anything_ when you were leaving?" Gibbs inquired.

The Israeli nodded. "I am sure."

"I am sure that we're going to have a lot of paperwork to do when this is over…" Gibbs muttered. "Everything has at least one tiny thing that's relevant to everything else. The license plate is a big one. Then there's the notes from the petty officer that made it sound as though Kate was the next victim. What are we missing?"

"A lot." Tony grumbled and flipped to the next page of the file in front of him.

The elevator pinged and the sound of Abby's platform boots and Kate's heels were heard rushing into the bullpen.

"Gibbs, we found something," Kate announced.

"What?" he replied as all the agent's heads snapped up to listen.

"You were wrong," Abby began, earning a questioning look from Gibbs and shocked glances between the team members. "About the note with the perfume. Or I guess, Tony was wrong. But either way someone screwed up. Actually it probably was Tony since you're _el jefe_ and don't make mistakes-"

"Abby, to the point?" Gibbs interrupted. Tony swallowed and prayed he hadn't screwed up, at least not too much. Gibbs was about to snap at the slightest thing and Tony didn't want it to be something he'd done.

"Right. Well Kate was about to test the perfume on the second note to find out what brand it was and when she sniffed it she recognized it as her own- no surprise there."

"But," Kate interceded, "It's also Cassidy's. It's the Escada she had in Guantanamo Bay a couple years back. When we were deplaning in DC I asked her what it was and started wearing it myself,"

"Soooo," Abby drawled, "The case with the Petty Officers is definitely linked with Paula's murder and…"

"The person who shot you," Ziva finished.

"As much as I'd hate to break rule eight, Boss," Tony said, "I think it's safe to assume that the whole Ari and Eli deal is somehow linked with the rest of this mess?"

"Why do you say that, DiNozzo?" Gibbs queried. He wasn't being accusatory, merely inquisitive.

"Because there's no such thing as coincidences?" Tony offered.

"Alright, well if it does, then how does it interrelate?" McGee asked.

"Find out," Gibbs ordered. "That's a good job Abby, Kate," he said and nodded to each of them in turn.

"Wait, I am still lost?" Ziva piped up. "How did Tony screw up, Abby?"

"Well I guess that wasn't entirely fair," the Goth admitted, "Technically it _was_ Kate's perfume on the note, but since it was also Paula's the note was obviously referring to her… We thought it was Kate because that's who Tony knew the perfume belonged to. But once we realized that Kate was fine, we really should have started running down anyone in relation to any of the cases that wore the perfume,"

"Two things," Ziva held up her fingers in correspondence, "One, Agent Cassidy technically wasn't a part of any of the cases when we found the note so even if we'd run down a list of potential victims she wouldn't have been considered one. And two, Tony weren't you saying that you were with Agent Cassidy early this morning? If you could remember the perfume being Kate's from almost a year ago, then why didn't you recognize the scent at Agent Cassidy's apartment? Especially when you knew it was pertinent to our ongoing investigation and the person wearing it was most likely threatened?"

Everyone swiveled to face Tony with disbelieving eyes. The senior field agent looked shocked, not guilty.

"DiNozzo?" Gibbs said.

"I… I… I have no idea to tell you the truth,"

"No idea about what?"

"All of it,"

"Alright," Gibbs sighed and tried to move the conversation in a more productive direction, "So we've got the license plate, the perfume, and the notes linking all of the cases, excluding the Eli thing. David," he turned to face the assassin, "Do you know anything at all that could possibly associate Mossad with any of this? Why did everything that happened with Kate suddenly arise just as all of this got hinky?"

"I do not know,"

"That's the point dammit!" Gibbs very nearly roared. "We don't know anything…"

His phone rang and Gibbs, grateful for the distraction (his team was staring, rather concernedly), answered it promptly.

"Yeah, Gibbs,"

"Jethro- I think I've found something," Ducky said excitedly.

**/**

**Sorry for the ridiculously long wait. I couldn't think of a single idea and was hung up on a million things that you don't want to hear about. Sorry that this is a crappy chapter… Sorry about breaking rule 6, yada yada yada the same usual spiel. . . **

**I don't think this story will be put on hiatus. Yet. I just am not as pumped up about it as I was when I started it. Granted, if I'd had the time to write as much as I'd wanted to when I first began this fanfic it would probably be a lot better, and have less continuity errors. In all honesty it would be finished. **

**If anyone is still interested in this, please review to let me know. Otherwise, I'm afraid this will be put on hiatus once school starts (apprx. 3 weeks). I'll probably update with one or two chapters before then, but I need to know if anyone wants me to continue with this.**

**Darlin24**


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